Donald Trump refers to himself as a tough businessman, but his critics point out all his bankruptcies in the casino world. Let’s go back to his original area of expertise, which was real estate development. The Wall Street Journal looked at four condo projects in North Miami, and the three non-Trump ones were 66% sold, 94% sold, and 100% sold. The Trump Hollywood was only 14% sold and was foreclosed on by HSBC.

Check you credit each year. Unfortunately, even if you do everything right, bad guys might still succeed in stealing your identity. After all, you can control who has access to your personal information, but you can't control how well a company that you do business with secures its personal-data records.

Nevertheless, you can limit the damage that would result from undetected identity theft by checking your credit report regularly. Periodically checking your credit report is a good way to make sure no one has opened credit cards or bank accounts in your name.

If you are a U.S. citizen, you're entitled to receive one free credit report every 12 months from each of the three major credit agencies; Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion - via www.annualcreditreport.com The service will let you examine and print out your credit report for free, but if you want to obtain your actual credit score, you'll have to pay for it. Since our freebie credit report is just once a year affair, its a good idea to insert a reminder in your calender to check again with annualcredit report.com in 12 months.

Which reminds me - the public, or a Congressman, can barely look at a newspaper without seeing yet another story concerning mortgage fraud. No wonder they're all scared out there - when will these stories be replaced by antique book dealer fraud, or babies being switched in the hospital fraud? Here is the latest - how Miami leads the nation in modification fraud: MiamiFraud. And if one doesn't want to read about modification fraud, there's always someone being sent to the slammer for origination fraud in the past, the latest being up in Massachusetts:
MassFraud.

(Not only does Miami lead the nation in mortgage fraud, but Florida leads in foreclosures. According to the MBA, 24% of all mortgages in the country that are in foreclosure are in Florida - more than 22 other states combined. In fact, more than half the mortgages in foreclosure in the US are concentrated in 5 states! MBAAStats)

It's official! No, not that Summer's here, although the unofficial start of Summer comes with Memorial Day on Monday. Rather, it's fairly clear that the economy has officially downshifted from a reasonable growth rate at the end of 2010, and present trends don't suggest any imminent uptick.
Of course, a stumbling economy brings lower mortgage rates, so even if few are interested in buying homes (why? prices and rates still rock!), at least some folks my get a new opportunity to refinance the ones they own.

After struggling mightily to crack below the 400,000 mark earlier this year, weekly unemployment numbers have now remained above that level for the last seven weeks, so improvement in the labor market is still more of a nada than a reality. The 424,000 new applications filed at state windows during the week ending May 21 was a 10,000 turn in the wrong direction. Certainly, there are explanations - lingering effects from the Japan disaster, jobs dislocated by flooding or tornadoes - but the numbers tell a tale of too many folks losing jobs for whatever reason and for whatever period of time.

Of course, folks without jobs don't buy homes. It would appear that even folks with jobs are staying away, too. New Home Sales did bounce 7.2% higher in April when compared against March, but the 323,000 annualized rate of sale was certainly nothing to get excited about, since something on the order of triple that would be closer to normal. Inventories has fallen to just 6.5 months available, and the 175,000 actual units on the market is the lowest figure in almost 50 years.

Eventually, when demand for new homes does return, a strong spate of homebuilding is to be expected. Here's hoping it comes sooner than later, but 2012 seems to be the earliest at this point for the turn in homebuilding.

So far this year, the recovery has failed to meet expectations. In the coming weeks, the Federal Reserve will step away from just one program of extraordinary support, and there are divided opinions about what will come next. Will rates rise or fall? Big bets are being placed on both sides, no doubt. Will the economy falter further, requiring some form of Quantitative Easing III(QE3)? Some observers are suggesting that this can't be completely written off at this point. Whatever the case, we will move away from the certainty of the Fed's involvement and into a less-certain period, at least for a while. At present, interest rates are sliding gently as things continue to show signs of slowing. More uncertainty brings risk, and risk usually brings higher interest rates.

As to what happens, we'll need to wait and see. For now, mortgage rates are even more favorable than they have been at any time in 2011. If you can, it might be a good time to get your purchase or refinance done reasonably soon. Next week, we get both end-of-the-month and first-of the-month information, including the employment report. It's a holiday-shortened week, and there doesn't seem to be a likelihood of a big economic surprise on the horizon, so mortgage rates will probably continue to drift.

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
(5) Loud Sigh: This is't actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'. that will bring on a 'whatever').
(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying F-- YOU!
(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.